The introduction of consumer credit or debit cards with an embedded silicon integrated circuit chip, otherwise known as “smart cards,” has created an interest in durable or rugged constructions for electronic devices. In fact, performance standards, such as ISO-7816-1, have been developed for smart cards to delineate resistance to mechanical stress, such as bending, torsion, and pressure stress. Typically, the smart cards are stored in a wallet or purse, and then may be inserted into card readers. When the smart card is stored in a wallet, the smart card may experience certain mechanical forces, such as bending, for example, when a person sits in a chair with the wallet containing the smart card in his back pocket. The smart card may experience other mechanical forces when it is inserted or pulled out of a card reader. The integrated circuit embedded in the smart card is typically made from brittle silicon, which may crack or break when subjected to certain mechanical forces.
Various methods have been developed to protect the integrated circuit and its connections from various mechanical forces, such disclosed in the following references: U.S. Pat. Publication 2003/0057536 A1; U.S. Pat. No. 6,613,609; U.S. Pat. No. 6,288,904; Japanese Patent Publication 2003-196630; Japanese Patent Publication 2003-196632; and Japanese Patent Publication 2001-110947. However, these types of methods are for addressing the types of mechanical forces an integrated circuit typically encounters, such as used in a smart card and stored in a wallet or used in a reader. These forces are relatively low forces, in comparison to the forces an object might encounter in an industrial setting, for example, such as impact forces from large objects or static pressure in excess of 0.5 MPa. Generally, the smart cards are kept in storage until usage and are not subjected to various environments.